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Monday, October 19, 2009

Go ahead whine toddler, whine. But I will get my revange/pleasure from putting you in absolutetly ridiculous looking pajamas. So keep on whinning. One day your future girlfriend will see this because I keep everything ;)

Sunday, October 18, 2009

The hubby is still out with the kids getting breakfast, so indulge me.

Two days ago I made quesadillas. Its called pico de gallo quesadillas and I must say I am one kick ass cook...lol. We love quesadillas but these were off the chain. Soo freaking good if I ever open a restaurant one day, they will be in the menu.

TacoBell is awesome. We love their food and when you got a budget, its a great treat. Their quesadillas are good, but now we are spoiled. I have been trying to make quesadillas for a while and I can make the regular chicken/beef cheese on a tortilla. Doesnt take much, but it never seemed enough, always felt like something was missing. Well I found it. Where is the violins and angels singing I ordered??

Today we celebrate our 7th yr wedding anniversary. WOW! I didn't think we would make it to 7. Marriage is hard and takes a lot of work. I know a lot of people say their marriage is easy and blah blah blah. Well good for you guys. Ours is not like that! We are 2 completely different people who fell in love and have made mistakes along the way. So learning this dance of sharing, compromise, cleaning up messes that we made and so forth has been difficult. There has been a lot of toe stepping and even dropping each other here and there. But when we do a couple of steps right and sway to the music, it makes it all worth it and makes us forget the bad parts.

People have told me I settled and still do. Well you know what? Settling is part of life. You cant have everything you want, perfectly the way you do. If that was the case, I would have a nanny, a maid, a range rover, well behaved kids and of course size 6 jeans. So I settle, he settles, and we move forward to improve it. I think the fact we are both here trying to make it work its a main reason to celebrate. He forgets to pick up his socks, have consideration, I bitch and whine and so forth. But we are still here.

We both could have gotten a divorce, I think some of those toe stepping have given us plenty of reasons to walk away with a clear concience, but for what?? To try to find the right person, to start a whole new life?? To break the unity we created just because things are hard?? Nahh! I had a lot of time to think this year and it seems as soon as we took divorce out of the equation, we both started adjusting and giving our best. One thing is we are both very stubborn, and I am thankful for that. I celebrate that, because if it wasn't for that, we wouldn't be here.

So yeahh he might leave socks on the couch, sit around when the dishes are pilling up and so forth, but right now he got the kids and is getting me breakfast. He will do anything for me. One would think anything for me would be to help out more around the house, have more consideration and etc. But that is not him. He cant see the garbage full and think "Oh I will take out that garbage". He has to be reminded and nagged and bitched and so forth.But you know what?? I dont think in my deathbed, I will remember that. I think I will remember him coming home and laying on the floor playing with the kids before he even takes his uniform out, I will remember him bringing me coffee home because he knows I love it and it will put a smile on my face, I wont remember me bitching to him about spending money on stupid crap. I will definetetly remember how tight he held me when our friend died and how much he said he wished he could take my pain and make it all better. I will remember the times he lets me silly and actually laughs at my stupidity and accepts me for who I am. I will remember all the sacrifices he has made for us and how he would do anything in the world for me, for us and that a smile on our faces is all he needs everyday.

So yeahh, in the day to day, I settle, I end up picking up the slack a lot more for the kids and the housework, I sometimes do it all with no help. But in the long run, I don't settle at all. So it might not be a fair trade, but its one I have learned to be okay with it and slowly tweaking things. So, hopefully the next 7 will be easy to make up for the struggles and difficult's of the first 7. If not, ohh well. We will cry, learn, grow,and adjust here and there and so forth.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Sunday, October 11, 2009

The husband is always telling me I have caviar taste on a welfare paycheck. I dont really care for caviar and I dont think the military's paycheck is welfare but you get the jist. I have expensive taste and never enough money. Always been like that, so therefore I have had to learn how to save money.

I am by far no expert in Savings 101. I have friends feeding families of 4 for under $300 a month. Some stockpiling with only $5 out of pocket each time. Yeahh not me..lol. I get all confused with coupons, end up buying stuff I dont need and its just a mess. I prefer to do simple things that has been able to help me and not much of a hassle. Also the fact I am not picky helps a ton. Let me explain that..in American, a lot of people impulse buy. Things here are too easy to afford. The difference from back home is say you want to buy a computer . That computer today cost $2k. You start saving. By the time you are done saving for that, that computer will cost close to $3k because of wonderful inflation. Here by the time you are done saving that computer will cost less. If you are lucky, you can find a wonderful sale and only pay half. That is amazing, but it makes a lot of people impulse buy and just buy things they dont need. Therefore because I am not that picky, I can go into a thrift store and walk out with an $80 pair of jeans that was only used once for $5. I have no problems with it. As long as it looks good, have no rips, no holes and its not lingerie or anything else too personal, I am game. I dont follow that "one mans trash is anothers treasure". I dont like anything trashy. I want nice pretty things for a good price. Hence the caviar connotation :)

So asides from checking thrift stores, garage sales, goodwill, I sign up for every store. I am already online anyways, so might as well. I always get an email when stores are having a sale and coupons.

CVS is a great place to save money. You can search coupons online, print them off and take to CVS. On top of them always having a buy 1 get 1 free all the time, they have bucks and etc wich can save you even more.Food lion is the same. I have searched around the comissary and other grocery stores in the area. But Food Lion's price is always better. I signed up for the free MVP card (which most grocery stores have) and I always get discounts on stuff I normally buy. Every single receipt is always at least $5 less than the original price. Just for having the free MVP card they gave me. Also their buy one get 1 sales rock. Ice cream, chicken, veggies, soups and so forth. Stuff that we use everyday. Food Lion also put their coupons right there, so as you grab the product you grab the coupon. Same with CVS.

I am also not brand lover. If store brand black beans are on sale, I will buy those. Very few things like mayo, ranch, and cheese, which tastes better the name brand and I have to stick to them because I want to save money but not comprimise good taste. Everything else is game. Also if you open your horizons, you will realize something the store brand tastes better than the name brand (ex: Saltines and Peanut butter. I love Food lions brand better).

BE willing to bend is another tip I learned. Most stores will put the popular expensive stuff within eye level or higher. If you bend down, you will find so many sales its isane. The difference in price can be as much as a $1 or more.

Also the way things are packaged affects price. I am now buying spaghetti sauce in a can instead of in a glass jar. The glass jar is $1.90 more expensive than the can, the glass jar has less than the can and the taste is not even that much better. The cans are very cheaper. Buying something that you use often (toilet paper) is better to buy a bigger package. Yeahh the smaller package might be cheaper but you will end up paying more because of packaging.

Planning meals has helped us save a ton. We dont eat out as often anymore because of meal planning. We buy whats necessary and therefore spend less. We also have lost some weight because us cooking, we know whats going in the food. We also eat much better than before. I love allrecipes.com I have found so many new recipes from there and have really opened our taste buds. Stuff like zuchinni which we never liked before, are now part of our meals thanks to a delicious zuchinni casserole I found it.

Eating one vegetarian meal a week helps save a ton. Heck you wont even miss the meat that much.

For veggies, if you eat a ton, buy fresh, for us even though we eat a lot, because we only shop once a month, it goes bad if I buy the quantity I need to last us for the week, so therefore I buy a lot of frozen and cans. Do check the ingredients to make sure there is not a lot of preservatives.

That brings me to another point : Shop less often. I have friends that spend a ton but when I start talking to them about their shopping habits, they are at the grocery store every 3 days. Are you kidding me?? You wont spend less that way, you will only be tempted and spend more. So try stretching out the days you go shopping.

And last but not least, compromise. You want to have that starbucks everyday, go for it. Saying you shouldnt will only make you crave more. But realize that maybe you cant afford that starbucks everyday, plus getting a mani/pedi every two weeks, eating ribeye once a week, eating out at least once a week and getting your hair colored once a month on top of washing your car. KWIM?? So compromise. Is the starbucks important to you?? Then wash your own car, or change that mani/pedi appointment to every 3 wks, go a week without eating steak, order a kids meal or share one meal while going out. You dont need everything you have but can have everything you want. Just learn to balance.

I hope this rambling will help you save a couple pennies and lead a more fufilling life =)

Sunday, October 4, 2009

As you can see from the nostalgic posting of pictures of him younger, little man just turned 3 on sept 29th. I cant believe I have a 3 year old. I am sure that is so classic of every mom to say but its so true. Time has flew! I have crappy memory but I can tell you exactly what I was thinking when that stick popped up positive, or when that first heartbeat filled the room and my heart with joy and so much love, I can tell you all the emotions that ran through my body when the u/s tech told me it was a boy. I can describe in great detail the fear and pain I went through when I thought I was going to loose him, and the joy I felt when he was first born, took his first breath and cried. My life would never be the same anymore and I sure as hell wasnt going to be the same person I was, ever again. And that was fine by me. I loved the new person I became, more patient, less selfish, and with absolutetly so much love to give. Having a child is monumental. So as he is growing into an amazing little boy with so much kindness, and a ton of attitude to back it up, I can only hug him and thank him. For the wonderful amazing gift he has given me in choosing me as his mom.